From the Ashes, You Crawl

Chapter Seventeen

Gerard was so ridiculously excited as he opened the door, and Frank slumped wordlessly to the ground. Gerard only figured that his friend was shaken and scared. He would have been too if he had been the one attacked. Gerard knew what would cheer him up. He tossed his gun and bloody katana into their piles and moved into the second room. He hurried over to the nightstand and flung it open. He dug through the little trinkets kept safe over the years, little baubles that held no real value to him anymore, things that it would just be too strange to get rid of. A black button, keys to somebody's home or car or something years ago, a red string of ribbon, a tiny golden cross, and a large, colorful book.

Gerard pushed the other things aside and pulled the book from the drawer, closing it and hurrying back to Frank. "Look," He said, sitting down in front of the silent Frank. He pulled open the slightly damp and moldy pages revealing a very, very large map of a country that used to be. The colors in the map were faded and running slightly. Names of cities and states that had long disappeared. Gerard pressed one finger over where they were and another one at the bottom of the map, an arm's length away, "Mexico."

"Yeah," Frank said quietly, not a trace of emotion in his voice as he watched Gerard. Gerard expected him to continue, raising his head and looking at Frank, but he did not. He only carried a very morose expression on his face. That was strange. Gerard was so used to Frank's chipper spirit. Perhaps he was just scared.

"Do you want to go there?" Gerard asked quietly, watching Frank with wide, wild eyes as he held his fingers over the two points.

Frank paused, tears filling his eyes. It was a very thick moment before Frank very slowly nodded his head, two tears sliding down his face, streaking the soot and dust on his cheeks. This made Gerard smile as he looked back at the map.

"We could do it," Gerard said softly. He traced his finger that was over where they were in a line to where his other finger was in Mexico. This made him smile even more. "We could walk during the day and find places to hide at night, but you said there aren't any infected outside of this area, right?" He said, speaking quietly, turning towards Frank. Frank very rigidly nodded his head. "And I don't limp anymore, so we'd be a lot quicker, right?" Gerard said again very quickly and excitedly. Frank again only nodded his head. "Do you think we could do it?" Gerard questioned frantically, watching Frank, "Do you want to leave?"

A very small, very sad smile crossed Frank's lips, and a tear ran from his eyes, "We could." Frank paused, staring at his legs as more tears ran down his face. Gerard did not understand why he was crying. "I do," He nearly whispered, looking at his knees.

This made Gerard smile at once, and he sat down in front of Frank, legs folded and smile wide. Gerard put his hands on. Frank's shoulders, and this made Frank raise his head at once, surprised by his friend's readiness to touch him. That was new. "Do you want to see your family again?" Gerard asked, nearly exploding with excitement.

There was a pause as Frank looked over Gerard, blinking as more tears ran down his face. "Yeah," Frank mumbled, watching Gerard's eyes carefully. Gerard didn't notice how unenthusiastic Frank sounded.

Another thought occurred to Gerard as he sat there, and he pulled his hand away from Frank's shoulder. "When we got there," Gerard began softly, thinking very meticulously about his words, planning out every syllable, "I could be in your family, right? Like... As part of your family, right?"

Frank looked back up into Gerard's eyes, not quite understanding for a moment before he finally looked away back to his legs. "You're already basically like my family, Gerard," Frank muttered, wiping his eyes carefully, "At least, I think so."

Gerard liked how that sounded. He liked it quite a lot. A family. He had never known such a thing. Ever. All he had ever known was Mikey, and Mikey... Mikey did not last. Gerard pushed Mikey away in his mind, and he started to smile. "I could pretend I am your son," Gerard said quickly, speaking before he thought about his words. It was foolish, but Gerard didn't care. He was so happy, so excited. He had never been somebody's son before.